


Accident

by Danpikat



Series: One Day I'll Actually Name This AU [5]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 21:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9846134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danpikat/pseuds/Danpikat
Summary: Danny activates his parents' ghost portal and meets a ghost.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written for this au since 2013, and I haven't really written fic in... a while... Any and all mistakes are my own; please excuse them.

Cold, pain, then panic.

 Something’s not right but Danny’s not sure exactly what it is.  He’s pretty sure that he’s missing something important.  Then he hears someone’s frantic pleas for him to-

 “Danny, get up!  Please! Don’t you dare be dead! Danny, breathe!”

 Oh, right.  Breathe…

 “Sam?  Tuck?”  Danny wakes up to the sight of his two best friends barely holding it together.  They’re scared, and he’s scared, and he’s not even sure why he’s scared when it hits him.

 The portal.  It’s on.  That shouldn’t be possible.  Last he remembered it wasn’t working.  But now...

 “Danny?”

 He’s not sure his senses are working correctly because he can’t tell who’s trying to talk to him and he’s so confused.  He tries to sit up and it hurts and he’s cold and his head feels too full like a really bad headache and he’s supposed to breathe but he’s not sure how he should be expected to do that when

 Something. Is. Wrong!

 He looks down and notices his gloves are white instead of black and his jumpsuit sleeves are black when they should be white.  It feels as if everything is a little bit to the left.  He thinks he hears a faint _What?_ and a gasp that definitely didn’t come from his mouth, but it sounded like him but not.  His brain feels squirmy- and isn’t that an interesting sensation!- and almost like a click everything is back to almost normal.  His gloves are black, jumpsuit white, and everything seems in their proper place.  His head still feels full and that is a monster of a headache coming on.

 Tucker and Sam are speechless and look on as if Danny has sprouted another head.

 “Little help here?”  Danny reaches for somebody, anybody, and Sam is quick to help.  Danny’s not sure what to say or do after that.  Tucker points at the formerly non-functional portal.

 “Dude.  How are you even alive?”

 “I have no idea…”  Danny glances back at the portal.  It doesn’t look particularly dangerous, but he’s still freaked out.  He tries to take a step and stumbles.  Sam and Tucker catch him before he falls.

 “Danny, are you okay?”  Sam looks him over for any visible injury.  It’s hard to tell with the jumpsuit on, but there are no tears in the fabric, so that’s a good sign.  No blood, and Danny seems to have come out of this relatively okay.

 “I’m not sure.  I feel really weak.  And I think we need to get out of here before my parents come home.”  Danny begins to take off the jumpsuit.  He feels like everything is too tight, there’s too much touching him at once.  His t-shirt and jeans feel much more freeing without the jumpsuit pressing them against his body as much.

 “Here, let us help you get to your room.”  Tucker still has a grip on Danny, and Sam moves to get his other side.

 “Yeah, you still look like you’re going to keel over.”

  


Tucker and Sam get Danny to his room without incident, and as he sits on his bed he feels a little better.  Maybe less like he was nearly electrocuted.  Maybe.  Nobody’s saying anything.  Tucker and Sam are looking expectantly and Danny’s not sure what they’re waiting on. It doesn’t occur to him until Tucker asks him, “What happened back there?” that they were waiting for some kind of explanation.

 “I don’t know.  I must have bumped something in the portal to activate it.  It was all so fast...  What happened on your end?”

 Sam and Tucker seem to have a silent debate on who will talk, and Tucker finally says, “You went into the portal and all of a sudden it came on!  You started screaming and when you got out you looked different…”

 “I looked different?  What do you mean by that?”  What does that mean, he looked different?  Danny looks at the jumpsuit that he brought back up from the lab for some reason and it hits him.

 “Your clothes were different. Like, the colors were-”

 “Switched,” Danny interrupts Sam.  He nods his head, remembering the gloves.

 Then Sam continues, “Your hair was white.  And your eyes were green…”  Both Sam and Tucker are visibly shaken by this.  How could that be possible?  People’s hair and eyes don’t change just because.  Fabric doesn’t change colors like that.  Danny doesn’t know what to make of all of this.

 “And then you freaked out and we couldn’t calm you down.  And when you finally did calm down everything went back to normal.  Like, you changed back or something,” Tucker finished.  “Do you remember what happened?”

 “I remember everything was just weird.  It hurt and then everything was, just, off.  I’m not sure how to describe it.  My head still hurts, like, it feels full.  Maybe I should rest a bit.  I think I’ll probably feel better after that.”  Danny already feels better, but still strange.  Not as weak but like his skin is too small for his body.  He just wants to be alone and rest now.  “You guys don’t have to be here.  I’ll be fine.”

 Tucker looks concerned.  “You sure you think you’ll be alright?  I mean, we can stay as long as you need.”  Sam nods her head in agreement.

 But Danny really doesn’t think that’s necessary.  If he’s honest he really wants them gone now.  He’s filled with a sense of urgency.  He needs to be alone.  Now.  Right now.  He’s not sure where this is coming from, but he really doesn’t feel like dealing with Sam and Tucker’s concern right now.  He tries to sound reassuring when he says, “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” but he knows he missed the mark when his friends look even more worried.  “I mean it, guys.  If I need anything I’ll call.  I just want to be alone because I’m tired and sore.  Besides, I’m sure I’ll just sleep until my parents or Jazz come home.  It’s going to be boring, and I’m sure I’ll be okay.  Really.”

 He must sound more convincing this time because while Tucker and Sam obviously don’t want to, they drop the subject.  “Okay, Danny.  You get some rest,” Tucker says as he gets ready to leave.  He’s obviously not happy to leave his friend like this but it’s also obvious that Danny doesn’t want any company right now.

 The knowledge that he’ll soon be alone calms Danny a bit.  It must show because Sam gives a half-hearted smile as she gathers her things.  “Call us if you need anything, Danny.  And we mean it.  Anything!”  She follows Tucker out of Danny’s room, and Danny listens for the front door to make sure they go home.

 The weird sense of needing to be alone lessens a little, but even though he’s the only one in the room he still doesn’t feel alone.  Having parents who hunt ghosts can give any kid a sense that they aren’t alone but this is definitely different.

 “Hello?”  This is stupid.  Who the hell does he expect to answer?  And there is no answer but Danny feels a sensation of what feels like a snake coiling under his skin.  That too big for his skin feeling never completely went away and now it’s back full force.  There’s a quiet hum that Danny is pretty sure is not actually coming from outside.  More in his head than anything.  That full feeling is at the forefront now and the hum gets louder until

  _-llo?  Hello?_  That voice again, and as it gets clearer the hum dies down until it’s pretty much nonexistent.  It definitely isn’t Danny, but it sounds almost like him.  Just not quite.

 "Who are you?”  Danny’s trying not to freak out again.  He’s tempted to call Sam or Tucker to come back.  At that thought he feels ice and panic race through him.

  _No!_  It’s very distinct, very clear.   _Let me out!_

 “What the hell?!”

  _Let me out!  Now!_

 “Let you out?  I don’t even know where you are!”

  _I’m in you!  Now let me go back home!  Take me back to the Ghost Zone!  I’m not supposed to be here!_

 Danny’s not sure how the...ghost…is supposed to get back to the Ghost Zone.  How is it even stuck here?  “I can’t help you get back if I don’t-”

  _Your ghost portal!  Take me to the portal!_

 The portal.  Pain.  Fear.  The full feeling in his head.  Well this explains so much but raises so many more questions.

  _Don’t just sit there! Take me back to the portal so I can go home!_

 Danny winces and tells the ghost, “You know, you really don’t have to yell at me.  I can hear you.”

  _Oh, I’m sorry. I thought my words weren’t coming through clearly since you are still sitting here and not taking me back to the portal so I can go back to where I’m actually supposed to be and get out of your head!_

 “Okay, okay!  Let me just-” and as if the ghost knew that Danny was still feeling a little weak and wobbly- and it probably did, somehow- a burst of energy spreads through Danny’s body.  “Woah!”

  _Portal.  Now!_

 That urgent feeling is back.  Danny quickly makes sure he’s still the only one in the house and hurries back to the lab.  The portal is still open.  It looks relatively safe, kinda, but Danny remembers the pain of so much electricity- and who knows what else- coursing through his body.

  _Touch it.  Maybe I can go through somehow…_

 Danny really doesn’t want to touch the portal, but it’s worth a shot.  If it works, Danny’s alone in his head again and angry ghost is back where it belongs.  Win, win!  If it doesn’t work, well… best not think about that.

 Danny reaches for the portal and gets as close as possible without actually going in.  He’s kind of touching it, and he can feel the energy coming from it.  He feels a pull from his hand into the portal.  Maybe it’s working!  However as quickly as it started working, the sensation stops.  The pull is gone.  An overwhelming sense of dread flows through him.

  _No..._  The ghost sounds strangely defeated. _I thought it would work._

 “Any other ideas?”  Danny feels a little bad for this ghost.  It seemed to really want to get back.

  _...We could try going back thr-_

 “No way am I going back in there!  I almost died in that thing about an hour ago!”  Danny’s terrified to get any closer to the thing.  One brush with death is enough!

 The ghost is a little hesitant.  Before Danny has a chance to question it, it finally responds.   _Fair enough.  ...How do you feel?_

 “I'm tired and sore.  It’s been a long day and my parents will be home soon.  I’d kind of like a nap before that happens.”

  _Go on to bed, then.  I’ll see what I can come up with to get me out of you and back into the Ghost Zone._

 The ghost is still upset, but Danny can tell that it’s not with him but the situation in general.  It has to be jarring to be minding your own business and then get ripped from your surroundings and dropped into a 14 year old.  As he makes his way to his room, Danny can feel the ghost’s emotions- and how weird is that?!- settle into a buzz of anxiety.  It’s not overwhelming anymore, but it mixes into Danny’s uneasiness at the situation.  Before he can work himself into a fit, Danny tries to reassure the ghost.  “I’m sure we’ll figure something out.  Can you calm down a little?  You’re making me more nervous than I already was.”  Danny’s words break the ghost from whatever state it was working itself into.  It obviously tries to settle down a little, if only so Danny can get them up to his room in one piece.

 Danny passes a mirror on the way to his room.  Out of the corner of his eye he notices that his eyes aren’t blue anymore.  He remembers Sam telling him his eyes were green when he exited the portal.  He can’t help stopping to stare.  “Woah…”

 The ghost’s attention seems to come back to Danny.   _Sorry._  It seems to retreat further into Danny.  His eyes change from green to his usual blue.

 A thought hits Danny.  “I don’t even know what to call you.  You never answered when I asked who you were, and ‘Ghost’ seems a little mean.”

  _Why?  I am a ghost…  But you can call me ‘Phantom.’_

 “Phantom, huh?  Interesting.  Call me Danny.”

_Hi, Danny._


End file.
